In 1853, U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry steered his smoke-belching steamship into the Bay of Edo (today's Tokyo), terrorizing the Japanese citizenry and forcing the Tokugawa government to end 200 ...

Matthew was the younger brother of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the strategically crucial Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. Like Oliver, Matthew became a career naval officer.

The event commemorates Commodore Matthew Perry’s arrival in July 1853 and the subsequent signing — under the threat of force — of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Peace and Amity. Events included a ...

In August 1945, John K. Bremyer undertook a 124-hour, 9,000-mile journey to Tokyo Bay, where he delivered the flag flown by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 to Admiral William Halsey’s USS ...